Who We Are:

A highly sought out and unique group of talented, trained, hardworking, curious and badass artists from NYC. A motley crew of creatives carefully selected by U-Shin, Marie, Chase, and Liz who have spent time in the business, know their ever-evolving part in it and know how to hustle.

What is UGA:

An innovative, talent-centered agency, breaking new ground and building a solid foundation for successful careers. In a synergistic approach grounded in the principles of community and transparency, U-Shin and his team provide unprecedented tools and deeply personal support to maximize client performance and growth. UGA represents hand selected Theatrical (Film, TV, Stage), Commercial (On-Camera/Print), Literary, and Above-the-Line talent in foreign and domestic markets. We are licensed, bonded, SAG/AFTRA franchised and located in New York City.

How We Work:

UGA was founded on the idea that the client comes first. We built the company on two separate foundations, Community & Transparency.

Community is built by achieving the goal of having everyone in the agency know each other on a first name basis. It was very simple when the agency started off a year and a half ago with 8 clients, and today with 150 it’s still manageable, but it will be a happy challenge when we reach our goal of 2,000. We provide signed clients with non required free audition centric group activities. These interactive resources not only allow practice, but they also standardize UGA audition expectations, as well as build a network of supportive peers.

An example of an activity at UGA is Audition Buddies. Audition Buddies is a simulated audition. 24 hours prior to the workshop, participates are given a set of side along with the 12 point UGA Audition Sides Expectation Guidelines. On the day of the workshop, the office will be setup like a casting house. The group will be broken up into two separate teams, men and women. All the men will have the same set of audition sides, similarly all the women have their own set of sides. The men will first act as the casting team, in which all members will rotate, playing the casting director, reader, producer, etc. Mean while the women will play the role of actors coming for the audition. Then when all the auditions are done, the two teams switch. When both teams have finished auditioning, the both teams will get together to review tapes.

During the review process, each actor will have the choice to receive feedback or not. It also gives the actor to see how others with their sides solved acting problems that were limited to their own experiences. It also give the opportunity for actors to glimpse the audition process from the point of view of the casting director.

Another community building activity is Picture Day, where all clients are welcome to come in to the office, which is set up like a headshot studio, bring booze, and mingle while getting free headshots done by a professional headshot photographer. These shots can be seen on the cover of our website.

Our second foundation, Transparency is built by, takes the mystery out of how the Agency is working for you. Every 8-10 weeks, our clients receive a UGA Submission Report, listing every role for which they’ve been submitted. The submission report is used as an analytical tool that derives a “submission to audition” ratio. If the client’s audition ratio is between 5% to 38% then the actor is doing fine. If the ratio is below 5%, then that’s in indicator that a change needs to be made in their image gallery and video bank in their Breakdown account.

The submission report also gives our clients how we are submitting them, ie. co-star, guest-star, recurring, series reg, series lead. If the client notices that we are not submitting them above a certain level, then they are free to ask why. If a inquiries are made, we generally send that client a set of sides and they are free to audition to a higher level of submission category. If the client sends us a tape that does not meet the level in which they are auditioning for, we will generally provide them with notes. These notes typically look like the following: no moment before dropping in the scene, not working moment to moment, single noted,…Clients can request sides to bump up two weeks later with a note of they have been doing to change their audition skill set. In the case of the client providing us with a kickass tape, then end of conversation and we are off to the races.

That’s UGA in a nutshell.

Team Leaders:

U-Shin Kim, head agent & founder, grew up on the West Coast (Portland, Oregon) and graduated from Oregon State University with a duo degree in Marketing and Theater Arts (Go Beavers!).

Upon arriving in New York, U-Shin studied acting under the tutelage of Suzanne Esper at The Esper Studio and worked as an actor, eventually moving into production and development for TV, film and new media and ended up being an award winning producer who created and sold his own TV show, Hooking Up, to former Vice President Al Gore’s television network Current TV for two seasons.

U-Shin’s enthusiasm for actors and passion for the shepherding of the creative process led him to the talent representation side of the business. He opened up his SAG AFTRA franchised agency, UGA Talent, in 2015, currently representing 100 highly selected clients. UGA has a unique approach to client development that includes a sense of community and transparency. UGA provides all signed client at no cost necessary marketing tools including headshots, 7 second slates, and skill building workshops lead by a team of UGA clients at the office. UGA’s main area of focus and expertise is NYC based network TV.

UGA clients have recently been placed on Gypsy, The Blacklist, Master of None, Blue Bloods, Power, The Affair, Limitless, Law and Order SVU, The Path, The Deuce, Bull, Gotham, Sex&Drug&Rock&Roll, Elementary, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Ballers, and many more.

A lifelong TV buff, U-Shin is also a big fan of his Pomeranian Phoebe Buffay and BBQ Kimchi tacos.